NSC (SD-HLLV)

[Rick]

Thanks Spacefan. I certainly DO feel older!

[J.McDonald]

Which is exactly why they should leave well enough, alone. (Throw me a bone today, it's my b'day..heh).

Happy birthday

I'll turn your POV the other way round, though: why can't NASA leave Congress alone? i.e. why can't they pick a plan that has at least some chance of coming in on budget, instead of relying on going begging for more funding?

[Rick]

Thanks!

If NASA didn't beg Congress for funding, how much less of the absurd Budget do you think would have been allocated over the past few years.

The last thing NASA should do is leave Congress alone IMHO.

[JimMcDade]

Which is exactly why they should leave well enough, alone. (Throw me a bone today, it's my b'day..heh).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I agree with you. Even if an alternative was cheaper than Ares I, I still can't imagine how any of the proposed alternatives could possibly fly sooner than Ares I.

Pretend this is a funny birthday card-->

What will be buried first?

1- Michael Jackson's body

2- Those fancy Jupiter Direct PowerPoints

3- American Idol without Paula Abdul

4- Our Space Restoration Society business cards. (Sorry- this one is an inside joke with Rick.)

- Jim

[Rick]

I think you should create a poll with these options!

[JimMcDade]

I think you should create a poll with these options!

I might just do that.

I saw at least one angry post on a news site from a Direct supporter hiding behind an alias. He came off just like one of Bart Sibrel's flock of followers. He wanted to know when NASA would be held accountable for lying and denying. And I quote...

"Why are(n't) these NASA executives bring brought to justice for wasteful spending, lying to the masses with all that is known and denying the millions who want project disclosure to finally come out for the truth of the trade - dna of mankind for technology. We are so tired of the game you all play - seriously"

[Khadgars]

Jim, I agree. I'm treating this discussion as a hypothetical.

Not sure if any one caught it yet but there is a massive article at NSF in regards to the NSC.

It appears massive work has been done over the last month in regards to this launch vehicle, meaning lots of engineers and other folks in NASA have been feverishly working on this design.

IMHO the NSC is far from a hypothetical, but actually the front runner to replacing Ares I/V.

At the cross roads where time and money are the biggest players in determining what is to succeed the space shuttle, the NSC uses virtually ALL of the infrastructure of the space shuttle, cost the least while still being able to perform the necessary missions.

Also note with a single launch you get:
Mass to LEO is 80mt
Mass to TLI is 54mt

That is still an impressive vehicle and almost a no brainier at this point.

Edit: Here is a nifty PDF is any one is interested (from June 17th)

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/361842main_1...nt%20Final.pdf

[JimMcDade]

Thanks for the useful link.

Personally, I would not characterize the NSC work as massive, but the Augustine deadline has created pressure to deliver some useful results.

The preliminary findings have to be in by Wednesday if they are going to make it into the final report.

Bergin appears to be reluctant to give up on his pal's Direct proposal- but that is hardly surprising.

[Khadgars]

Perhaps "massive" may not have been the best use of words But I was attempting to demonstrate this design is a far cry from being simply hypothetical as their are large amounts of people working on it.

I hope they come up with a new name for this thing too, NSC is getting old, any suggestions

[JimMcDade]

I hope they come up with a new name for this thing too, NSC is getting old, any suggestions

In the spirit of Pan Am's legendary Pacific Clipper,- how about the Orbital Clipper?

I do like this vehicle for cargo operations, but I am not comfortable with putting people in the middle of all that explosive stuff. I wish that we could keep Ares I, Ares V and add HLV to the fleet for certain other needs. Money is always the dream killer, isn't it?

[Khadgars]

Sorry Jim I'm a Laker fan and just hearing the words "clipper" makes me cringe

I guess you could call it Ares V assuming they keep the 2 SRB's and 3 SSME's?

[Khadgars]

Not sure if any one has caught up with it yet, but their are several creditable articles out their that state Bolden has initiated an official review of all alternative HLV, including the Side Mount and DIRECT. From the sources, the Side Mount is clearly the front runner. Obama is even quated as favoring an increase of $1billion per year and upto $3billion per year up to 2015.

Altair has been pretty much officaly defunded at this time.

There was even mentions of using Ares 1-X and it's development to further the other alternatives, justifying the current Ares 1 development cost.

The report is due by Thanksgiving. I think by the end of the year we'll have a much greater idea where we are heading.

[Rick]

Interesting. You might want to click on the link below to another thread here. The information is conflicting yours, but who really knows what is going to happen.


http://insideksc.com/showthread.php?p=12530#post12530

[Khadgars]

Interesting article, but that is only dealing with the Augustine Commission, and from what I read, only a select few.

This article shows that Bolden him self is investigating into alternative HLV's. That in of it's self is very telling.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/...-alternatives/

Like you said we really do not know where we will end up, but if Boldens review comes out by Thanksgiving as planned, we may know quite a bit more by end of the year once we get Healthcare reform through, hopefully with at least a public option

Btw I love your new profile picture, she looks beautiful there